For Mateo Romero’s newest collection, to be displayed at Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, he continues his focus on heavy impasto palette knife landscape paintings, as he’s done for the last six years. However, for the new show, titled Shards,Romero (Cochiti Pueblo) has reshaped some of his canvases to resemble historic shapes of pottery shards from old pueblo ruins. Romero’s time spent with the Tewa people at Pojoaque Pueblo in New Mexico, has also influenced his vision.
Shard #3, oil on panel, 20 x 36”
“With this series, I’ve tried to tie Indigenous ideas about the land and people’s connection to it together,” Romero explains. “The Tewa people believe that there’s a breath of life that connects us to the land. With Shards…it’s another level of ideas embedded in the work.”
In regard to the abstract expressionist pieces like Shard #1 and Shard #3,Romero says, “[These] paintings were built based on existing references to historic pueblo pottery shards… and using these shapes to paint on. You be amazed at what you’ll find, both good and bad, once you go into the ruins and begin your research.”
Oga Po’geh Owingeh Series, oil on panel, 20 x 20”
Romero continues, “these paintings are very direct, expressionist, muscular pieces. They convey emotion, energy, color, surface, tension and urgency. They’re not quiet pieces nor are they meant to be.”
Romero also uses Tewa names for his titles, believing that etymology ties the space to Indigenous history. In works like Tsi Ping Owingeh no. 11,we see a view of Cerro Pedernal Mountain, with Pedernal meaning “flint” in Spanish. A lot of the names of important landscape features were given Spanish colonizer versions of preexisting, Indigenous names.
Shard #1, oil on panel, 18 x 36"
Another example is found in Romero’s painting Oga Po’geh Owingeh, one part of a larger series depicting similar scenery and theme. Oga Po’geh translates from Tewa to mean “white shell water place,” referring to the region known as Santa Fe, and is the land of the Northern and Southern Tewa. “The land here is connected to time and space and becoming in a human sense,” the artist shares. “It’s very existential stuff. It has always spoken to me (and other painters), and it continues to inform me and fill me with enthusiasm.”
Tsi Ping Owingeh No. 11, oil on panel, 24 x 24”
While the new collection uncovers deep layers of meaning, Romero acknowledges that the paintings are also meant to be genuine, full of light and spiritual energy. “Romero’s delicious impasto paintings depict an honest portrayal of Native homelands belayed in a tidal wave of colorful energy where the canvases spring to life,” says gallery owner Mark Sublette, succinctly describing the body of work.
Romero will showcase around 15 new paintings for Shards, opening at Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery in Tucson, Arizona, with a reception on Friday, October 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. The show will hang through November 4. —
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